The Department of Radiology at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) has received a $2.5 million federal grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This four-year funding, provided by the NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, will be used to develop an unprecedented hybrid imaging technique. This innovation has the potential to radically change the diagnosis of cancer, bone diseases, and cardiac problems.
The technological innovation involves the synthesis of two powerful medical imaging modalities: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Dual-Energy Computed Tomography (Dual-Energy CT). This combination is currently unprecedented in clinical practice.
PET scanning provides functional and molecular information, specifically focusing on areas with increased cellular metabolic activity (for example, in malignant tumors).
Computed Tomography (CT) is a method of anatomical imaging that provides detailed, high-resolution visualization of the body’s internal structures.
In traditional hybrid PET/CT systems, the CT operates at only one energy level (single voltage). This limits its ability to differentiate between various tissues based on their atomic composition and X-ray attenuation coefficients. This limitation reduces the capability to accurately identify tissue components (e.g., fat, water, calcium).
This new method, called PET-enhanced Dual-Energy CT, cleverly utilizes data from the PET scan (a measure of cellular activity). Based on this data, a computer artificially creates a second, high-energy CT image.
This artificially generated image is then combined with the standard CT scan data. The result is dual-energy imaging that provides much more information about tissue composition.
This approach provides clinicians with more accurate and quantitative information about tissue composition (such as material separation), which is achieved without additional exposure to ionizing radiation and without the need for hardware modifications to existing PET/CT scanners.
The new imaging technique has the potential to:
- Improve oncological imaging by more accurately distinguishing between healthy and tumor tissue.
- Enhance bone marrow scanning by allowing a more precise measurement of disease activity.
- Provide new visualization of the pathophysiological connection between bone, bone marrow, inflammatory processes, and cardiovascular risk.
Since PET-enhanced Dual-Energy CT can be implemented on existing PET/CT scanners without expensive hardware upgrades, it can make advanced hybrid imaging more accessible to medical institutions.
The successful implementation of this technology could lead to significant clinical outcomes in the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases, including oncological and other pathologies. Specifically, a unified hybrid scan will provide higher-contrast, more accurate, and comprehensive visualization, thereby improving the diagnostic decisions made by physicians.
